Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Gun Building and Repair => Topic started by: Fort Greene Ville on August 02, 2009, 09:16:07 AM

Title: stock drop and offset
Post by: Fort Greene Ville on August 02, 2009, 09:16:07 AM

Does anyone know of or have reference to how to measure for drop and/or offset on a stock?

I did a search of posts but it came up empty.

Thanks
FGV

Title:
Post by: Capt. Jas. on August 02, 2009, 09:46:25 AM

Lay the gun with the top sighting plane of the barrel on a table or flat surface. Measure from the nose of the comb to the surface and that is drop at nose of comb. Measure from the heel to the surface and that is the drop at heel. These two measurements create a certain drop at cheek and that measurement is taken where your cheekbone contacts the stock.

Run a straight edge down the center of the top of barrel from sight to sight and have the straight edge extend over the top of the stock. The difference between the center of the stock at the heel and the straight edge is the cast. If the stock bends to the right with the stock closest to you, then it is cast- off. If it bends to the left with the butt closest to you then you have cast-on.

Pitch can be determined by placing the top of the barrel upright against a wall. If the butt of the gun sits flat on the floor (if you have square walls) then the gun has no pitch or 0 degrees of pitch. The more the toe of the butt is off the floor, the more positive degree  of pitch exists.  The more the heel is off th floor, the more negative degree of pitch you have.

These are basic stock measurements and I have found these methods the easiest to use if you don't have a stock fitting tool available.